<?php
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 * Copyright © 2016 Alex Yst <mailto:copyright@y.st>
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$xhtml = array(
	'title' => 'Patreon&apos;s screwy log in page',
	'body' => <<<END
<p>
	Current countdowns:
</p>
<ul>
	<li>20 unfinished weblog entries in <a href="/en/weblog/2016/07-July/">July</a></li>
	<li>13 days until mobile voice/$a[SMS] service with my current carrier ends</li>
	<li>43 days until mobile data service with my current carrier ends</li>
	<li>40 days until my old domain registrar can no longer counter my charge dispute</li>
</ul>
<p>
	I don&apos;t think that I can post the answers of my classmates here.
	Because of the laws being set up the way they are, it&apos;d be copyright infringement.
	However, I will post my responses to their responses.
	Despite them being contextless on this page, they show what I&apos;m up to today.
	Besides, this is my journal, and the posts may one day bring back memories.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
	It sounds like you&apos;re an idealist like me! I&apos;m a bit more pessimistic though, perhaps because my last school didn&apos;t stand for the right things.
	They weren&apos;t about supporting students and broadening minds, but about making money and trying to make students fit into very narrow boxes.
	While I think that institutions of higher learning *should* be about educating people and helping them grow as individuals, both from experience at that one school and articles that I&apos;ve read over the past few years, I fear that many schools don&apos;t live up to that.
</p>
<p>
	I&apos;m very hopeful that University of the People will live up to your (and my) expectations though.
	They seem to be trying to fill the learning gap, as you said, and they don&apos;t seem to be about the money.
	They seem to accept that different students have different technical setups at home, too.
	While my last school was very particular about what software (including operating system, Web browser, office suite, et cetera) people use, University of the People has much simpler and realistic requirements, saying that we need to be able to read and write DOC/ODT/PDF files, but without requiring that any software that may or may not be compatible with our machines be used.
	They&apos;ve even recommended three different solutions for DOC/ODT files! Instead of trying to cram students into boxes, I think that University of the People is actually about helping students better themselves through education.
</p>
<p>
	I agree, education *should* be a human right.
	Do you know what sets human beings apart from other animals most? It&apos;s our capacity to learn from one another and past generations.
	Some other animals show this to a limited degree, but we wouldn&apos;t be anywhere near where we are today if we weren&apos;t continually building off of the knowledge of others instead of having to always reinvent the same wheels.
	Knowledge and information should be available to all those that seek it.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
	Wow, I&apos;ve never run across class sizes that large.
	That does sound like an obstacle to education.
	Lacking that one-on-one time with the professor can be hard, but I imagine that it&apos;s a lot easier than it used to be.
	In the past, we didn&apos;t have the Internet or search engines.
	Books and card catalogs are an option, but it takes a lot of time to find information that way, especially when you take into account travel time to get to the library.
	With the Internet, knowledge, tutorials, study guides, and even sometimes tutors are available from home.
	I feel for the professors though.
	That&apos;s a lot of work to grade.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
	I agree, a college education has become increasingly important.
	With a college degree being the new high school diploma, maybe we should be paying for college for everyone from taxes like we do with the high schools.
	University education is still out of reach for many, this would help open it to the masses.
</p>
<p>
	I&apos;m not sure that higher standards for admission show a desire on the universities&apos; part for wanting to provide a higher standard of education though.
	Instead, it creates more of an educational gap.
	Anyone below their defined line doesn&apos;t receive education, so the standard level of education isn&apos;t getting raised.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
	You bring up some good points about the negative aspects of globalization.
	Differences in opinions, experiences, and culture will lead to inevitable conflict at times.
	Additionally, as you said, it&apos;s important to distinguish theory from practice.
	In theory, globalization should be happening in a much better way than it is, but corporate greed and religious disagreements are getting in the way, preventing true peace and prosperity.
</p>
<p>
	I hadn&apos;t considered that the primary driver of globalization might have shifted.
	Religion and missionaries were a huge cause for travel in the past.
	However, while missionaries still exist, I don&apos;t think that missionaries connect the world much these days.
	They mainly just operate in an already-connected world.
	The leading connectors these days seem to be the Internet and commerce.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
	I greatly hope that equal opportunities will be the norm in the future, but I don&apos;t think that we&apos;re quite to that point yet.
	New opportunities are now available to some people, but others still don&apos;t have many options yet, and the best living conditions are only available to a few.
</p>
<p>
	Hopefully, most of the opportunities brought to the poorer countries are better than what they had before.
	It sounds like in some places, even this low-paying work is a step up, and for that I&apos;m grateful.
	I sincerely hope that the use of horid working conditions, such as sweat shop labor, are on the decline.
</p>
<p>
	I had no idea that mobile device use had gone up so drastically! This really does show how pervasive technology is becoming.
	You have to figure that not only are these devices themselves in use, but that the wireless towers and other infrastructure must be being expanded as well.
	Truly, this is a large-scale technical advancement.
</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>
	Technology is certainly broadening our ability to reach across the globe.
	Messages can be sent within seconds, while people and goods can be shipped within a day, when need be.
</p>
<p>
	You have a very good point about people not being able to handle power without becoming corrupt.
	I&apos;m optimistic that people will eventually do the right thing, but the truth is, this isn&apos;t very realistic.
	In all honesty, corrupt corporations and corrupt governments will probably continue to keep people oppressed and keep baseline living standards low, at least for a long while.
	It&apos;s sad to think about that, but there&apos;s not many other realistic ways to view it.
	While globalization magnifies the potential for good, it also magnifies the potential for harm.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
	With that, my schoolwork for the week is done.
</p>
<p>
	I received my invitation to University of the People&apos;s social network today, but the social network website appears to be broken.
	It allowed me to create my account, but after that, it loads only a blank page with a little bit of $a[CSS] styling.
	On closer inspection, the social network is hosted and run by Microsoft.
	Of course it would be broken then! Microsoft products never work correctly.
	I&apos;ve asked University of the People support for advice, so hopefully they&apos;ll be able to help me sort this out.
</p>
<p>
	My mother has gotten two interviews lined up for the next couple days.
	Tomorrow, they have an interview in Hollie, while on Thursday, they have an interview in Harrisburg.
	Hopefully at least one of these places will want to hire them.
	If they get a job, we can get moved.
	After that, I can begin my own job hunt as well.
</p>
<p>
	<a href="https://marcwithac.bandcamp.com/">Mark With a C</a> has started a campaign to get some funding! Unfortunately, this campaign is on Patreon.
	I complained to them back in <a href="/en/weblog/2016/03-March/25.xhtml">March</a>, but the still haven&apos;t done anything about it.
	Today, I complained once more, making sure to explain <a href="/en/weblog/2016/03-March/26.xhtml">exactly what the problem is</a>.
	If I recall, I decided to tell them what the issue was last time, but I don&apos;t have that in my journal, so maybe I opted against it.
	This time, they have no excuse not to fix it.
	Marc promises some interesting stuff, so I hope that this gets cleared up quickly.
	After I get it cleared up though, I need to double check with Marc about the licensing of the released work before agreeing to fund them.
</p>
END
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